


take back the city

by WonderTwinC



Series: take back the city [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 15:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4966777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Thea's actually been living with Laurel for the past few months." [a collection of roommate stories]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Laurel woke to the sound of someone knocking at her front door. It wasn’t a heavy handed knock like her father’s (or even Oliver), in all honesty if her bedroom door wasn’t open she probably wouldn’t have been able to hear. She rolled to her right - blinking away her somewhat blurry vision as she glanced at the alarm clock sitting on her nightstand.

It was three twenty five in the morning.

She pushed herself up with a groan, sliding her legs out from under the warmth of her comforter with the barest of shivers. Laurel slid her feet into her bunny slippers (a gift from Felicity) and stood, stretching away from of the sleep.

The knocking persisted.

Sighing, she grabbed her robe from the back of a chair put it on as she walked, mindful that it could be Diggle if something was wrong and she’d rather not be seen wearing not much more than a shirt Nyssa’d left behind a few weeks ago. Not that he’d be surprised, if she were honest about it.

Laurel shuffled through her apartment, rubbing at her eyes all the while. She was accustomed to running on the smallest amount of sleep now, but waking up was still a bit hard for her. Especially when she’d been sleeping more or less without nightmares.

Making sure that her robe was tied as she neared the door, Laurel cleared her throat as she unlatched the chain and unlocked the deadbolt before unlocking the door itself, readying herself for whatever or whoever awaited her.

“Thea?” Surprise rippled through Laurel to see the younger girl standing at her front door with a duffle bag in hand. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, not like that,” Thea hastened to reassure her, glancing up at Laurel’s face before she let her eyes drop back to her slippered feet. “I just…”

“Hey,” Laurel spoke softly, bending somewhat to catch Thea’s gaze. “You know you can tell me anything, right Speedy?”

Thea laughed, the sound choked and soft. It died in her throat fairly quickly, leaving a rather tense silence between the two of them. Laurel was half convinced that she was going to have to go inside and call Oliver when Thea cleared her throat, speaking so quietly that Laurel almost missed it.

“I can’t stay in that place any longer,” she started off, her voice quiet but growing louder with each word she spoke, “I thought I could - but with Ollie gone it’s just too quiet and too dark and I can’t stay there. I can’t-”

“Hey, hey,” Laurel stepped forward, brushing her fingers against the back of Thea’s shaking hands. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to stay there, Thea. You don’t.” She wrapped her fingers around the younger Queen’s wrist, squeezing gently as she smiled. “I have a perfectly good guest room that could use some company.”

“You’re sure?”

There was so much hesitance in those two words that Laurel’s heart ached a bit. A thousand different reassurances and speeches swirled in her head, ready to come out and comfort Thea, but Laurel swallowed them down and instead took Thea’s duffle bag, urging the other woman over the threshold.

She closed the door with a smile. “I’m positive.” 


	2. Chapter 2

“You know we’re going to starve, right?” Laurel glanced up from dining room table, watching as Thea opened and shut a handful of cupboards, scowling all the while.

Laurel frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Thea shut the last door with a little more force, wincing at the harsh crack of wood hitting wood. “You obviously can’t cook-”

“That is completely not true,” Laurel interrupted, huffing somewhat to herself. “I can cook some things.”

“Canned soup and warming up leftovers doesn’t count,” Thea deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I’ve never been that great in the kitchen. Ollie still won’t let me live down burning that poptart.”

Laurel choked, doing her best to squash down her laughter at Thea’s ruffled look. “I just - how do you burn a poptart? Explain that one to me.”

“It was an accident, okay?” Thea flung her arms out, sighing in an exaggerated manner. “Logic says the longer you cook a poptart in the microwave the gooier it’ll get.”

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Laurel offered, chuckling at Thea’s miffed expression.

“Yeah, well, I know that now.”

They both burst out into laughter, Thea leaning back against the countertop and Laurel bent over her paperwork. It was the contagious kind of joy that never seemed to stop until your eyes were watering and your stomach ached and breathing was a bit of an inconvenience.

Thea was the first to calm down, wiping at the corners of both eyes as she tried to control her breathing. “It’s a good thing that your Dad and Lyla remember to feed us,” she offered, breathless and still choking back the vestiges of her laughter. “Otherwise we’d be a little sick of chinese takeout and pizza.”

Laurel nodded, taking a deep breath, shuddering breath. She was still trying not to laugh. "There's worse things in the world than being sick of your favorite foods, Speedy."

"Yeah," she replied, grinning. "Being too broke to afford them." 


	3. Chapter 3

It was Thea’s shrill scream that woke Laurel in the dead of night.

She was on her feet without a second thought - all traces of sleep gone. Laurel grabbed the gun she kept in her nightstand before she left her room, checking the safety as she cleared the five steps it took to get from her bedroom door to Thea’s.

She pushed the unlatched door open with her shoulder, sweeping the pistol around in front of her body as he entered the door, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. There was no one else in the room, no attacker - no threat.

… just Thea, tossing and turning in the middle of her bed with the sheets tangled around her legs.

Laurel crossed the room without thought.

"Thea," she called out the other girls name, reaching with her free hand to shake lightly at Thea's right shoulder. "Thea, wake up-"

Unlike Nyssa, Thea was slow to wake, blinking her eyes open as she still beneath Laurel's hand.

"Laurel? ... is that a gun?" she mumbled, her voice low and rough from sleep. A little hoarse from her earlier scream.

Laurel huffed out a laugh, but nodded.

Thea rubbed at her face with one hand, clearing her throat with a small grimace. She sighed. "I - didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't," Laurel replied, clicking the safety back on as she laid the gun on Thea's nightstand. "Just... instincts."

Thea nodded, but didn't speak.

Laurel squeezed her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," she mumbled, staring up at the ceiling. "You can go back to bed. I'm fine now."

"Yeah, okay," Laurel nodded, shoving gently at Thea's side. "Scoot over, Speedy."

"Laurel, you don't have to -"

"Oh, I know," she replied, offering Thea a quiet smile. "I also know that after I've had a nightmare I don't like being alone, so scoot over."

She gave another half hearted shove. Thea tried to look annoyed, just a little, but her posture relaxed as she made room on her bed.

She was relieved.

Laurel plopped down beside her, getting comfortable before tugging the younger woman against her side. Thea curled against her, letting out a deep breath as she settled down.

"Hey Laurel?"

“Hm?" she ran her fingers through Thea's hair, her eyes already closed.

"Thank you," the youngest Queen whispered, curling her fingers into Laurel's tank top.

Laurel smiled. 


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey Laurel,” Thea shouldered her way into the other woman’s room, glancing at her phone as the door opened, “do you mind if I borrow-” she looked up and stopped. Laurel was sitting on her bed in a tank top and jeans, staring at a picture frame with one of the saddest expressions Thea had ever seen on her face. “Laurel?”

“I forgot I had this,” the other woman whispered. Her fingers shook as she held the frame, staring at it so intently. “I must have put it away after… after he died.”

 _Oh._  Thea felt her heart sink in her chest.

Laurel sucked in a deep breath, her words coming out breathless and rushed and pained. “Some mornings I still wake up and expect him to be around, making omelettes for breakfast and starting the coffee… and then it all comes rushing back and I remember that he’s gone.”

Thea stepped farther into the room, leaving the door open behind her.

“I still miss him too,” she offered, sitting beside Laurel on her bed after a moment. She glanced at the photo - Tommy’s smiling face as he held a laughing Laurel in his arms. The joy on Laurel’s face made Thea’s heart clench. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her friend so carefree and happy, so - loved.

Laurel swayed gently, bumping her shoulder against Thea’s. Her smile was sad. “I know you do. He loved you like a little sister.”

“Yeah,” Thea ducked her head, paying special attention to the rug beneath her feet. “After what happened - with Ollie and Sara - he was always there. Even when I didn’t want him to be. It was like I’d lost an older brother but gained one at the same time.” She smiled a little, picking at the slightly ripped knee of her jeans. “I took the both of you for granted. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have people in my life that cared so much about me.”

“He’d be so proud of you,” Laurel whispered, dipping her head until Thea could see the genuine smile on her face. “I know I am.”

Thea blushed somewhat, but her smile grew as she swayed into Laurel, pressing their shoulders together. “Thanks, big sis.”

Laurel laughed and god, it felt like home.

“Anytime, Speedster.”

Thea rolled her eyes. “And here I was going to say I was pretty proud of you too.”

“Better not strain yourself,” Laurel teased, her smile bright and warm.

Thea bumped her knee against Laurel’s. “You sound like Ollie, you know that?”

Laurel snorted.

Grinning, Thea ducked her head.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for 4x05 'Haunted'.

Thea jerked awake, immediately reaching for something familiar to ward off the panic in her chest - the fear of two hands clasped tightly around her neck, choking the life out of her. A warm, calloused hand caught hers in a light grip and the familiarity of it, knowing exactly who it was, eased the lump in her throat.

“Laurel?” she croaked, her voice rough from the abuse her throat had taken hours earlier. The hand around hers tightened somewhat in a gentle squeeze as the bed near her left hip dipped under the other woman’s weight.

“I’m right here,” Laurel’s warm voice was equal parts soft and soothing, warding off Thea’s fears with a practiced ease. The hand not holding hers brushed carefully against her forehead, pushing her hair away from her face and behind her ear. “Everything’s alright, you’re safe.”

She blinked in the semi-darkened room, grateful that Laurel had cracked her door. The warm, yellow light from the hallway was less intrusive than her lamp, easier on her tired eyes and aching head. Laurel’s fingers swept against her forehead again, catching at pieces of hair that she’d missed before.

Thea offered her a tired, grateful smile. “I thought you’d be with Sara,” she whispered, clearing her throat against the ache.

“She’s asleep in my room, lights completely out,” Laurel replied, giving Thea a smile. “She hasn’t moved since she fell asleep and I… I wanted to check on you.”

“I appreciate it,” Thea squeezed Laurel’s hand, relaxing against the mattress.

“Thea,” Laurel shifted, bringing one leg onto the bed as she turned to better face the younger woman, her expression lost somewhat in the darkness. “You mean just as much to me as Sara does. You’re not just Oliver’s little sister, you’re my sister. You always have been, long before I was with Ollie, and you always will be. I’m sorry if I haven’t made you feel that way.”

“Laurel no,” Thea squeezed her hand, her chest aching for an entirely different reason than before. “You’ve always been there for me, especially after Ollie disappear on the Gambit. I remember when you first started dating and I was so excited because I thought ‘Laurel’s finally like my sister’, but… you’ve always been family, all of you.”

Laurel smiled and leaned down, lips brushing ever so gently against Thea’s forehead. It reminded her so very much of home, of evenings spent with her father and mother, of having Oliver tuck her in at night - of being safe and warm and loved.

“Thank you,” Thea whispered, smiling up at Laurel.

“ _Thank you_ ,” Laurel insisted, fussing with the blanket. “Now, get some rest. Tomorrow, we’re going shopping,” she stated, smiling.

“All of us.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a prompt fill on tumblr for ' Laurel & Thea prompt… arguing over what tv show to watch on netflix! Also, thanks for fueling my brotp. :-)'.

Thea had known Laurel almost her whole life, but she’d never seen the older woman in pain, not really. Not until now. She was laid out across their couch, a tight look across her features as she flipped through Netflix. It was the first time Thea was almost ready to admit that perhaps she was in over her head as Speedy, that maybe they were all in over their heads. Her chest still felt tight with panic and fear, the events of a few hours ago playing over in her head. 

She remembered feeling terrified, her vision swimming from having the air knocked clean from her lungs… and then the cold press of a knife to her throat. Thea couldn’t untangle the blurred memories no matter how hard she tried, but she knew Laurel had taken the man out somehow.   
  
It wasn’t until they had cleared the warehouse that she noticed Laurel holding her side, a dark stain forming against her leather gear. The stab wound was shallow, nothing they couldn’t take care of back at base, but Thea knew it had to hurt. Especially when Dig had started stitching Laurel up and she’d gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles had all turned white.

Shaking her head to clear the memories, Thea stepped into the living room, dropping onto the couch carefully and dragging Laurel’s feet into her lap. “Legally Blonde, really?” she teased, wrinkling her nose and setting down the bowl of popcorn she’d brought back.   
  
Laurel huffed, not even sparing Thea a glance as she hovered over the movie. “You’ve never even watched it have you, Speedy?“   
  
“Yeah no, gimme that,” she leaned over Laurel carefully, swiping the remote with the triumphant grin. “Let the master show you how it’s done.”

Laurel rolled her eyes, but reached for the popcorn. “Oh please, you sound like Ollie.”

“Where do you think he got it from?” Thea stated, giving Laurel her best shit eating grin before she settled back, flipping through the selections.

She searched for almost five minutes before she stopped, making a sound of approval that had Laurel looking up from the popcorn. She groaned. “Really?“

“Hey, this movie is a classic.”

“Thea, it’s The Fast and the Furious. When did that get to be a classic?”

“When I said so five seconds ago.” Thea clicked on the movie, dropping the remote between herself and the couch arm. She’d loved this movie ever since Roy had forced her to watch it during one of their movie nights ages ago.

Laurel groaned, but said no more as the beginning credits rolled. Instead she poked Thea with her toes, smiling when the other woman swatted at her playfully, reaching over to stick her hand in the bowl of popcorn and grab way too much.

Little pieces fell from her fingers, littering the couch and Laurel’s clothes, but all she could do was laugh.

Everything was going to be just fine. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was her birthday.

It was her birthday.

Perhaps not in the literal sense, but it mattered just as much.

Eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours.

Three hundred and sixty five days.

Fifty two weeks.

Twelve months.

One year.

One whole, entire, single year since she’d had a drink, since she’d grasped a bottle of pills like they were her lifeline.

Laurel ran her thumb over the coin in her hand, feeling the indents from the engraving bite gently at her skin. She’d made it an entire year without a drink or a pill. She’d made it through her sister’s death, through her father’s anger, through everyone telling her ‘you can’t’ over and over again. She’d survived long, lonely nights and pain like she’d never known before. She had stared demons and devils in the face and come out the other side stronger than she’d went in. A little more battered and a little more bruised, but stronger for it, better for it.

She’d survived it all - an entire year’s worth of pain and misery and life and death and not once had she felt that familiar, overwhelming thirst - felt her throat run dry at the thought of having a glass of wine, at seeing her friends pour themselves something over ice after a long day’s work.

One very long year without a drink, without any sort of pills, but she wasn’t so blind as to think that the struggle was over.

There was no cure for being an alcoholic - she hadn’t wanted to touch a bottle in twelve months, but there was nothing to say she wouldn’t want one tomorrow or the next day or next week or even next month. Laurel wasn’t naive enough to think that she could have just one drink, she was an alcoholic, she never wanted just  _one_  drink.

She wanted ten drinks. Twenty.

She didn’t understand how someone could just want one drink, how someone could say they’d had enough, how someone could leave a half full glass of wine on the table at dinner. Laurel wanted to drink until she literally could not have anymore - and then she _still_ wanted another, and another… and another.

The pills were another thing entirely, something she didn’t miss until she was in so much pain she was biting through her bottom lip to try and survive it - and then the pain was over and the need for relief, for something to take to dull her senses, disappeared with it. The first few times were hard, harder than she cared to admit, but now it was easier - more familiar to grin and bear it while John stitched her up or Thea cleaned a cut.

It made going to the doctor a bitch, though.

Still, it was her birthday and that was something.

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Thea poked her head around the door, her short hair a rumpled mess as she smiled.

Laurel closed her hand around her coin and squeezed for a moment before she nodded, letting out a deep breath. “I’m going to kick your ass this time, Speedy.”

“Yeah, don’t think so,” Thea grinned, looking like a miniature version of Oliver as she stepped into the doorway with her gym bag slung over her shoulder. They’d planned a night at the gym to celebrate growing stronger. She was more or less certain that there would be milkshakes and Big Belly Burger afterwards.

Laurel huffed, standing from her bed and grabbing her own duffle bag that was stuffed with workout clothes. “Logic says that eventually I have to win at least once.”

Thea shook her head. “And previous encounters tell me that you don’t stand a chance, birdie.”

“You were dug out of your brother’s ass,” Laurel countered, refraining from sticking her tongue out at her companion. “It’s really annoying sometimes.”

“You love me,” the younger Queen stated, backing out of Laurel’s doorway and toward the front door.

Laurel rolled her eyes, shoving Thea gently with her shoulder as she walked by. “Only on the weekends.”

Thea laughed - the sound making Laurel smile as she opened their front door.

One year down - the rest of her life to go. 


	8. Chapter 8

Malcolm stared at the ceiling unable to sleep, sprawled out on the couch in the early morning hours. His exhaustion weighed heavily upon his mind and body. He closed his eyes to visions of his beloved wife gunned down in the street, images of his son being lowered into the ground - and then there was his daughter… his vibrant and stubborn daughter lying in a pool of her own blood.

Tension coiled between his shoulders as he swung his legs over the edge of the couch, listening to the silence of the apartment before he stood. The white noise of Star City buzzed softly in the background as Malcolm made his way to Thea’s room. He pressed careful fingers to the already ajar door, pushing it open just a fraction more as he peered inside.

Light from the hallway streamed into her room and fell across the bed, highlighting the gentle rise and fall of Thea’s chest from where she slept closest to the door… and the body resting next to her. To his surprise, Laurel slept on top of mountain of blankets that covered Thea. She was curled around his daughter and even in sleep Malcolm could see the protectiveness radiating off her in waves.

She was even wearing the clothes he’d seen her leave in that morning, all except for her boots and jacket which had been discarded.

The floor groaned beneath his feet as he took a step back. The hand of Laurel’s that rested gently on Thea’s arm flexed as she opened her eyes and stared at him in the darkness. Malcolm exhaled softly and tilted his head, giving Laurel a small nod as he took another step back. 

He watched her watch him leave without a word, pulling the door closed as he went. 

The worry and fear that usually clutched tight at his chest whenever he thought of his daughter in recent times eased just a fraction at the realization that perhaps she was in good hands… and they were not Oliver Queen’s.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How unbelievably naive we both were that night. [set after 4x18]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is how it ends. This is officially the last chapter of take back the city, but I do plan on someday going back and adding in chapters for each episode of Arrow this season. Take care everyone.

 Thea crawled onto the bed, wrapping her arms around the first pillow she found and burying her face there. The room still smelled like her - that soft, delicate perfume that she liked to use. There were clothes on the floor and two suits laid out on her bed at her feet. Her things were in all the places that Thea remembered them being, lovingly cared for and placed with intention.

There were papers stacked haphazardly on her dresser where she’d been reading them while getting dressed - a pair of discarded earrings beside them along with a framed photograph of Captain Lance and Sara and then beside that-  framed photograph of them.

She was much younger in the photograph, probably nine or ten, but Laurel was smiling so brightly at her and Thea felt her chest ache at the realization that she’d never see Laurel’s smile again, never hear her teasing voice or listen to her soft, warm laughter. There would be no more hugs or shopping trips or movie nights with too much chinese food and ice cream and falling asleep on the couch.

Her arms tightened around the pillow as hot, angry tears slid down her cheeks.

She didn’t understand how Laurel was here just this morning, trying to cheer her up over coffee and pancakes, and now her body was lying cold and alone and lifeless somewhere that wasn’t here.

Somewhere where she couldn’t be.

_It was a little after three_

_“Thea?”_ _Laurel’s expression was so worried that it made her chest ache as she realized the implications of coming to someone’s apartment at three in the morning while they were most likely asleep. “Is something wrong?”_

_“No, nothing’s wrong, not like that,” Thea hastened to reassure her, feeling foolish. She glanced up at Laurel’s still half-worried expression before she let her eyes drop back to the older woman’s slippered feet. “I just…”_

_“Hey,” Laurel spoke softly and Thea could hear the rustling of her robe as she bent down somewhat to catch her eye. “You know you can tell me anything, right Speedy?”_

_Thea laughed, the sound choked and soft as it tried to make it’s way out of her chest. It died in her throat fairly quickly, leaving a rather tense silence between the two of them. Laurel was so quiet and worried and Thea eventually cleared her throat, speaking so softly that she could barely hear her own voice._

_“I can’t stay in that place any longer,” she started off quiet, but her voice grew louder and a little more desperate with each word, “I thought I could - but with Ollie gone it’s just too quiet and too dark and I can’t stay there. I can’t-”_

_“Hey, hey,” Laurel stepped forward and Thea felt her warm fingers slide over the backs of her trembling hands. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to stay there, Thea. You don’t.” She wrapped her fingers around Thea’s wrist so very gently, offering a comforting squeeze. “I have a perfectly good guest room that could use some company.”_

_“You’re sure?” the words came out hesitant and unsure, but there was a desperate kind of hope and want that lay beneath them. It both surprised and startled Thea when Laurel reached down, taking her duffle bag with one hand and ushering her in with the other… and then she smiled and all the panic, all the fear and upset that set heavy in her chest felt just a bit lighter._

_Laurel closed the door behind them, pulling Thea in for a half-hug. “I’m positive.”_

This apartment had been her place for over a year now, and Laurel’s for much longer than that, but Thea knew that she would never walk through that front door again and think of it as home.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [take back the city redux](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6487186) by [WonderTwinC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC)




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